Second Nature | Manyonga

The Zimbabwe Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, curated by Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa and commissioned by Raphael Chikukwa, organised by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and presented by the Government of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture.

Second Nature explores neuroplasticity as both metaphor and method, an entry point into thinking about how identities, stories and societies are continuously reshaped. Manyonga, the Shona word for "arms" or "embraces", introduces a counter-force: the warmth of holding, the reach of connection, the intimacy of relation.

It responds to the 61st Biennale Arte theme In Minor Keys, conceived by the late curator Koyo Kouoh. Zimbabwe is the only country to have consecutively staged and retained a national pavilion since the project's inception in 2011; Second Nature | Manyonga is the eighth chapter of that story.